iPod Touch: backup

Hello! New to this forum & iPhone things in general. As I have already posted in the intro thread, I am looking to move to a different platform, and the iPod Touch & iPhone OS seem to be looking like the most logical choice for me. No, not interested in an iPhone; that's another topic for later. Currently I am running my business, as I have for the past eight years, on a Palm PDA (remember those?), a Tungsten T3 specifically. I'm sure most of you know well that that old Palm OS & associated hardware are a dead end. The iPod Touch looks like a very good replacement; I don't have one as of yet (probably in the next few months), and I have some critical questions before I make the "big jump."

First question, very important: backup. I am a very firm believer in solid, reliable and redundant backup of my info. If I understand correctly, the iPhone backs up to Apple's "cloud," the "Mobile Me;" I would assume that the iPod Touch does that also, given an adequate wifi connection. Also, I understand that there is a desktop backup as well (through iTunes, correct?). Now:

1)Is everything backed up, including third party apps and their data?

2)Can individual parts/segments/files be restored, or is it an all-or-nothing restoration?

3)Are there 3rd party backup/restore solutions available?

TIA. Since this is only my 2nd post, at this point TiPB will not email me alerts to posted replies - I'll have to keep checking on answers.